92 klm from Xapari

Brazil is large scale in every sense of the word and still has some of the best fenced property we have seen for along time. Huge fields of sugar cane cut back endlessly into the surrounding vivid green back drop. Victor the buggy bumps along a good bitumen road although we are lulled into a false sense of security…. and as we have named various road features in our travels as we hit a family of pot holes …..yes Dad, Mum, and the kids they catch me out every time BANG <BANG >BANG as the Right hand rear wheel crashes against the bump stops on the trailing arms, I groan as I feel the suspension shock through the car, I don’t speak my mind as Elayne senses my worry again and again…..But I do worry about all those Bangs as one day something will break for sure…….. Hopefully not just here…… hopefully not just at this point in time….That’s what I always say, as we drive through some poor shanty town remembering all those bangs and bumps …hoping not to break down here.
I remember pulling into a large sugar can field in late afternoon the only gate open for 300klms we pulled into what may have been a 5000 ha plantation ,we found a spot along the clearing made for the power poles. It was a quite night and we were in striking distance of the Peru / Brazil border at Inapari about 250k’s south of our position (WP 556) and about 92 klms from Xapari
31 May WP 557
We arrive at the Peru Border late afternoon not the best time to cross as we are also behind several coaches waiting. I enter the Customs building a run down small wooden building, a middle aged man is watching TV and I am told to sit and wait. After a few minutes he passes me a Peruvian Immigration form and I start filling it out. Elayne is standing guard by Victor which is surrounded by the coach people wanting to have their picture taken with Elayne……..I can see she is not impressed with this role as an unpaid film star……
Back by Victor I am approached by 2 Policeman who kick & bounce Victor up and down…Elayne is not amused as she has taken refuge in the car away from the money changers ,coach people and some drunk looking locals who are hanging around. The police amuse themselves walking around Victor kicking the tyres and bouncing the suspension as hard as they can. Elayne is not having any more bouncing up and down and tells the police to kindly find something else to bounce up and down  they revert to climbing under the car checking out the suspension they cannot get enough of Victor’s masculinity …..We think….or are they looking for drugs ….????….Another official starts to open the side of the tent as we try to ask who he was, not sure if he was just an inquisitive local or a genuine official.
He tells me he needs to inspect the vehicle and I was not to worry ….that’s what I gather from my bad Spanish interpretation. He points to the sheep skin covers on our seats and starts rubbing them between his fingers.
I wait for a comment and he asks in Spanish if they are OveJo (sheep skins) ….Of Course I reply they are 20 years old and are Australian Merino. Are you sure he asks me …YES …YES….he then shakes his head and returns to his small dilapidated office. I follow sensing something I said was not going to help us cross this border……….CRICKEY………I thought ……..I must be tired ………GENUINE SKINS……………..Can you imagine if you were entering Australia and said this. I quickly retreat to the car and explain my blunder to Elayne………..GOOD ONE CHRIS……..BRILLIANT………I was not feeling that brilliant and realized we could be stuck ….or the sheep skin covers will be confiscated.
I return to the office and soon spot lots of books about animals and prohibited products which would be banned from entering Peru.
The Customs official was on the phone to his head office ….I waited for the telephone call to end. ANY NO NO not pass was his English…….the skins will need to stay….they cannot enter Peru……in Spanish…..
I followed him back to the Buggy where the crowd had swelled. The Peruvian Official leans into the Buggy trying to remove the covers. Elayne was not having a bar of this procedure and started to tell the official if the sheep skins cannot go into Peru neither will I Elayne exclaims…………………OK …..OK the official lets us know in no uncertain terms……you must return to Brazil. ………CHECKMATE……….game over……just after I had exchanged all our Brazilian Real’s …..I would now need to buy them back….GREAT……
I tried every angle I could imagine ….BUT NO WAY was the Peruvian Official going to let them in.
Now the Police start to get involved as nobody wants to be left out from this argument, the coach crowd is pushing around and this little situation was better than the local TV soapy.
Elayne was in full flight and had wrapped the covers up under her arm looking for the scissors….WHAT …..For ….why do you want the scissors???? I ask Elayne….I”M going to cut them up before I hand them over…….They are not having them in one piece.
I could see Elayne’s point but there must be a solution……………SYNTHETIC……SYNTHETIC……I called out SYNTHETIC……………Silence fell and the customs official raised his hands AARRRRR
SYNTHETIC   Yes ….I exclaimed GENUINE AUSTRALIAN SYNTHETIC MERINO SHEEP SKIN COVERS ……SYNTHETIC…..YES…….SYNTHETIC…….
NO PROBLEMO OOOOO the official exclaims ………… We now Join the waiting coach queue 40 deep the Peruvian pace was slow Elayne goes first while I wait next to the Buggy our usual procedure as Elayne owns the Buggy all the paperwork is in her name (she always has twice as much to do as I sit back and poor Elayne try’s to point out the chassis numbers on the documents to the Customs officials.)
Her passport is stamped and all vehicle documents are completed….How many days did they stamp your visa for I ask Elayne? 30 days ….I think yes 30 days.
The queue is almost finished as I have my passport stamped 60 days for me we are not sure why but it is time to go its getting late and we have no idea what the camping looks like, hopefully not thousands and thousands of kilometers of fences as in Brazil.
You can pass now no problems …..Go….go….the Buggy fires up and we drive off waiting for some further passport checks as one usually has but none just one small barrier that’s all we had to cross.
And that is what we did, waving away and thanking them for there consideration…calling out in Spanish …CHE VERE….CHE VERE…..(great fabulous)…………….
WE WERE IN PERU…..AT LAST……..YIPEY……
The land of the Incas the conquistadors, Majestic Condors, Machu Picchu ‘’The lost city of the Incas’’ set in those beautiful Andes.
WHAT MORE COULD ANY TRAVELER WANT.